I could talk trash all day. Like, literally, about trash, the kind we constantly step over on the sidewalk here in SF. For such a glorious place, San Francisco is famous for filthy sidewalks. So is SF a trash city?

Of course not. But our relationship with trash is complicated. One huge issue: a lack of trash cans in large swaths of the city. Anyone who lives here knows the feeling: You’re walking down the street with something to throw away – and there is simply nowhere to put it. How has one of the world’s wealthiest cities ended up falling so short on such a basic need? And what would it take to fix SF’s dirtiest problem?

These are the questions driving this week’s episode of “PST.”

First up, SF Standard reporter Gabe Greschler, who covers the city’s government and trash policy extensively, explains how officials arrived at a deeply counterintuitive conclusion: that adding more trash cans (opens in new tab)won’t fix SF’s trash problem. Plus, he gives us a long-awaited update on the newly designed, vandalism-proof cans (opens in new tab) we were promised years ago.

Next, I talk to Tony Leo, the owner of a home goods shop on a busy section of Valencia Street — that has exactly one trash can. Leo spends about an hour and a half every day dealing with trash outside his store. His response to the city’s argument that more cans wouldn’t help: “I don’t buy it.” 

Finally, a feel-good trash encounter: I meet Dugaldo Padilla, one of the nearly 300 Recology drivers tasked with emptying the half a million refuse bins across the city. Padilla, who wakes at 2 a.m. to start his route, was just named the U.S. Residential Driver of the Year by the  National Waste and Recycling Association. Yes, he’s the top recycling man (opens in new tab) in the nation! He gives us a firsthand view of our city, through the eyes of one of the people trying to keep it clean.

Turns out, there’s a lot more to the story behind SF’s trash than you might think.